The Right to Vote and Stand for Election to the European Parliament. EIPAScope 1994(2):pp. 11-17

Abstract

The elections of the European Parliament will be held in June 1994; these elections are the first direct elections to be held in the framework of the European Union. For the first time the citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals will have the right to vote and stand as candidates in those elections in the Member States in which they reside. Furthermore, the creation of political parties at supranational level will enable Union citizens to express freely their ideas and undertake political action. Granting voting rights in the elections to the European Parliament to Union citizens who reside in another Member State tackles not only a theoretical problem but also a very practical one, as the number of Union citizens who have benefited from the freedom of movement and establishment provided for by the EEC Treaty are estimated at five million. The number of resident non-nationals who are citizens of other Member States is approximately 1.3 million in Germany and France, 880,000 in the United Kingdom, 541,000 in Belgium, 240,000 in Spain, 163,000 in The Netherlands, 150,000 in Italy, 105,000 in Luxembourg, 62,000 in Ireland, 50,000 in Greece, 29,000 in Portugal and 27,000 in Denmark.1 Approximately 1.2 million Italians, 840,000 Portuguese, 630,000 Irish, 470,000 Spaniards, 400,000 Britons, 360,000 Greeks, 300,00 French, 290,000 Germans, 240,000 Dutch, 130,000 Belgians, 40,000 Danes and 11,000 Luxemburgers are established outside their home Member States. Before the Maastricht Treaty came into effect, residents who were nationals of other Member States could also vote in the Member States of residence only if they were residing in Belgium, Ireland and The Netherlands, subject to certain conditions. Furthermore, all Irish nationals and Commonwealth citizens have the right to vote in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, the right to stand as a candidate is reserved in ten Member States for nationals only. In Italy, nationals of other Member States may stand for election, even if they do not live in Italy, while the same applies in the United Kingdom to Irish nationals and Commonwealth citizens.